The Dundee effect: How industry hubs are elevating more than games | Playable Futures
This series of Playable Futures articles considers how the design, technology, people, and theory of video games are informing and influencing the wider world. You can find all previous Playable Futures articles here.
The Scottish city of Dundee famously stands as one of the UK's most significant game industry hubs. There are other hubs, of course, from Brighton to Liverpool via Guildford – but Dundee presents a fascinating and distinct case where the culture of game development has become a part of local culture, and where games' influence on the city's wider industry and economy is being felt in particularly profound ways. Considering the future of the Dundee hub's impact locally beyond games, then, allows us to consider what we might see – or should see – elsewhere across the UK.
Where successful games are made, of course, economies and communities thrive. Earlier this year UKIE reported that the UK game industry supports 76,000 job roles while contributing a significant £6 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA). That amounts to close to double the national average per role. Now, however, something else is happening. The adoption of games technologies to model and manage the delivery of complex systems in new sectors – and the application of game design strategies to create more effective user experiences – is leading to the development of new markets and opportunities for development studios.
"Dundee's games industry is supporting and fostering all these other local industries, and as a result the economy and skillset"
Before tucking into Dundee as an example of all that, it is worth pausing to reflect on how our industry became established in the Scottish city. That is because, in Dundee, technology and creative culture were a core part of the city's economy, long before games informed the future under discussion.
"Before the games industry became established in the city, Dundee's economy was built on manufacturing and electronic engineering, alongside a strong
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
